Krystal Da Muse
Krystal Argentin, better known as KrystalDaMuse, is THE very talented and vivacious personality that has been woven, from the very beginning stages, into the fabric of everything that falls under the S DOT P DOT PRODUCTIONS umbrella. Humbly boasting the titles of Co-Producer, Manager, Event Coordinator, and Host for S DOT P DOT PRODUCTIONS KrystalDaMuse is beginning to show and prove why she is and will continue to be a major player in the entertainment industry for years to come!
CJ Suitt
CJ Suitt (he,him/they,them) is a performance poet, arts educator, and community organizer from Chapel Hill, NC, whose work is rooted in storytelling and social justice. CJ was recently appointed as the first Poet Laureate of Chapel Hill, NC.
CJ co-directed, produced, and starred in a historical reenactment of the 1947 Freedom Rides, performed at many national and local music festivals, including Gnarnia, Shakori Hills and Bonnaroo, and acted in a production of Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments. His career as an educator has allowed him to work with young people awaiting trial at the Durham Youth Home, older inmates whose voices have been silenced within the Orange County Correctional Facility, and high school and college-aged men pushing to redefine masculinity in their schools and communities. Additionally, he has collaborated with organizations such as Transplanting Traditions, Benevolence Farm, and Growing Change on the intersection of storytelling and food justice.
He is committed to speaking truth to power and aims to be a bridge for communities who can’t always see themselves in each other.
Lejuane Bowens
LeJuane (El’Ja) Bowens is an award-winning spoken word poet, host, speaker, workshop facilitator, and author. Born in Detroit,Mich and raised in Lima, Ohio El’Ja joined the United States Army in 2000. During his six years of service, which included two deployments to Iraq, El’Ja began to commit his thoughts to paper. In 2005, at the urging of a friend, he posted several poems online. The positive feedback opened his eyes: poetry was his calling.Since then, he has since went on to become the 2009 McDonald’s Food For Thought Poetry Slam Champion, 2010 ECU’s Survival of the Illest Poetry Slam, and the 1st poet to have his work in the Obama Art Museum located in Raleigh, NC (the 1st and only of its kind in North Carolina).
In 2014, he was recognized as the 1st ever NC Poet to compete in three different Grand Slam Finals in three different cities & win ALL three slams(Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Durham) and, along with the Bull City Slam Team, won the 22nd Southern Fried Poetry Slam. and placed 2nd place in the following year. In 2015, El’Ja was nominated for Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the 5th Annual National Poetry Awards.
He is one of the founders and is the director for the Southeastern Regional NC Poetry Festival held once a year in Fayetteville, NC and he is a featured poet on Poetry Slam Inc and All Def Poetry on YouTube.
El’Ja is also the author of the poetry books, ” So Many Things to Say: A Collection of Poems” , “Anywhere…But Here”, and “Blerd Lines” . He was the recipient of the Rising Star Male Poet Award for the State of North Carolina and overall recipient of the award for the 2016 GANSPA Awards. He is also host to an event called the Nerd Slam which he has done at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam, National Poetry Slam, and numerous ComicCon events across the US.
He has performed at numerous festivals such as the Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival, Big Ears Festival, headlined the Book’em NC Book Festival, Homegrown Festival and the National Folk Festival along with sharing the stage with the likes of poets such as Georgia Me, Sunni Patterson, Abyss, and Shihan Van Clief.
Ashley Lumpkin
Ashley Lumpkin is a Georgia-raised, Carolina-based writer, editor, actor, and educator. She is the author of five poetry collections: {} At First Sight, Second Glance, Terrorism and Other Topics for Tea, #AshleyLumpkin, and Genesis. Her book “I Hate You All Equally.”, is a collection of conversations from her years as a classroom teacher. A lover of performance as well as the written word, she has been a competing member of the Bull City Slam Team since 2015 and currently serves as its coach. She is one-fifth (and only Slytherin member) of the Big Dreams Collective and currently serves as a member-at-large on the board of the North Carolina Poetry Society.
Above all else, Ashley considers herself a teacher, poet, and fryer of food. She is a lover of mathematics and language. She loves you too.
Dasan Ahanu
Christopher Massenburg, better known as Dasan Ahanu, is a public speaker, organizer, curator, educator, poet, spoken word artist, educator, songwriter, and emcee, and loyal Hip Hop head born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is co-founder and managing director of Black Poetry Theatre, a Durham based theatre company that creates and produces original poetry and spoken word based productions. As an active participant in poetry slam, Dasan has competed regionally and nationally as a founding member and coach of Durham, NC’s own Bull City Slam Team. In 2010 and 2014, Ahanu led the Bull City Slam Team in winning the Southern Fried Southeastern Regional Poetry Slam, the largest regional poetry slam in the country. He also led the team to a 3rd place finish at the 2010 National Poetry Slam and a 2nd place finish in Group Piece Finals at the 2012 National Poetry Slam.
